"Shopping for Pleasure" and "The Art of Necessity" (Week 9 Entry 1) 5/30/17

“Shopping for Pleasure” John Fiske “The Art of Necessity: The Subversive Imagination of Anti-Riot Protest and Reclaim the Streets” John Jordan

In the first article “Shopping for Pleasure” the main topic at hand is consumerism and particularly how women are associated with it. Fiske begins with a metaphor that “shopping malls are the cathedrals of consumption” and goes on to list several other truisms and generalizations. When we think about shopping we often associate this consumption with women. Fiske argues that these consumerism slogans and sayings demonstrate the power that women have as consumers. He goes on to state that this view on women opposes masculine or normal uses of these slogans. Furthermore it is pointed that in these slogans “mall” opposes “home” and other patriarchal ideas. However in reading this found this unconscious association of women with consumerism as problematic itself. In some contexts, the men are implied as providing and working for the family, while the women shop and spend money. Although Fiske argues that it exhibits women’s power, I find that such comparisons are only marginally better than saying “home” or “kitchen” Ultimately women being generalized thorugh such sayings “A woman’s place is ______” is troublesome regardless of what you fit in there. So much so that in Hillary Clinton’s campaign they flipped the script around entirely in stating that “A woman’s place is in the White House.” It is clear that as much as we try to promote women’s rights and their equality there is still so much work to be done. And in some cases the discrepancy between men vs. women is similar to the comparison of east vs. west and orientalism.

The second article discusses a movement in which people oppose the creation of a road that would require tearing down so much in between. In these movements people oppose the building of such a road and point to what will be lost by replacing the “people” with the cars. Along the way they also point to the importance of such things as art and the significance of their movement to reclaim the streets.